


A Grounder In Space

by Just_a_Rusty_Bucket



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: 6 Year Time Jump, If You Squint - Freeform, Kind of Canon Compliant, spacekru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 06:45:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15600624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_a_Rusty_Bucket/pseuds/Just_a_Rusty_Bucket
Summary: Raven is really starting to regret teaching Echo about the ventilation system on The Ring...Aka, I have a huge soft spot for Echo and imagining how she'd fit in to life up in space and we didn't get to see a lot of what happened up there





	A Grounder In Space

In hindsight, Raven was seriously starting to regret teaching Echo about the overhead ventilation systems on The Ring. The mechanic had sent Echo up into the maze of ducts and shafts a few months ago to try and help her fix a problem with the airflow. It was easier for her to move around inside the shafts than it was for Raven with her brace, and if Raven was being completely honest with herself it was an olive branch of sorts.

Echo had appeared increasingly overwhelmed and isolated in the alien environment she had found herself in. The stoic former spy was finding it much harder to adapt to life on the Ring than Emori, who had the advantage of having spent her life constantly adapting just to survive, whereas Echo had only ever known the life of an Azgeda spy. So, Raven had asked Echo to help her with fixing their ventilation issues, hoping that it would help her to feel a little more included in the daily life on the Ring.

However, ever since Raven had taught Echo about the overhead ventilation shafts the grounder had decided that it made a far more effective method of navigating The Ring than simply walking everywhere. She had also taken to dropping in on the other members of the Ring at random moments. Quite literally dropping in. Raven had lost count of the number of times over the past few months that she’d been engrossed in a project only to end up with an Azgeda dagger at her throat and a hissed “not good enough” in her ear. She was even more annoyed that the stoic grounder seemed to find it impossible to replace the panels in the roof after she had dropped in.

Admittedly, when it wasn’t happening to her Raven had to admit that it was actually pretty funny. A few weeks ago the entirety of The Ring had come running after hearing a high pitched shriek coming from one of the few working shower rooms. By the time everyone had arrived completely out of breath, Murphy and Emori trying desperately to look like they hadn’t been in the middle of something Raven would definitely disapprove of given that she’d sent them to fix a pretty big issue less than an hour ago, they found Echo and Bellamy stood outside. Bellamy very red faced and wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, Echo looking relaxed and dripping wet despite being fully clothed. Raven found it hard that this was the same woman who had refused to use the showers for weeks, ‘Rain isn’t supposed to fall indoors’ was the explanation she had given, especially given the slight smirk the grounder was now sporting. Raven groaned internally.

“Okay, so what just happened here, because I was in the middle of a very important repair on the oxygen scrubbers so this better be important,” Raven demanded. The quicker this was over with the quicker she could get back to work.

“I was in the shower, when psycho grounder over here decided to drop in unannounced.” Bellamy seethed.

“A warrior must always be on their guard.” Echo stated, very matter of fact, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“I. Was. Naked.” Bellamy moaned. Raven was starting to admit that as distractions on The Ring went this one was pretty amusing.

“You think I haven’t seen a naked man before?” Echo shrugged nonchalantly. “You are certainly nothing special Bellamy Bake.”

Raven held it together, she really did, but Bellamy’s indignant squawk after Echo’s last comment tipped her over the edge and she burst out laughing. Bellamy’s attempt to glare at her only made her laugh harder. Honestly, it’s hard to be threatening when you’re only wearing a towel.

This wasn’t just a single isolated incident where Echo had dropped in on the other members of The Ring at a less than opportune moment. There had been a rather awkward string of dinners one week where Harper and Monty had steadfastly refused to make eye contact with anyone after Echo had dropped in on them one quiet afternoon. The whole situation was not helped by Echo’s muttered comment on the second day of “I still maintain those knots were insufficient. Monty could have easily escaped if he had wanted to.” Both Monty and Harper had turned beet red and Raven hadn’t even tried to hold back her laughter. However, Harper’s glare was a lot more effective than Bellamy’s had been.

The only member of The Ring who seemed to escape Echo’s attentions was Emori, though Raven suspected that had more to do with the fact that the only time Echo had tried to drop in on the other grounder unannounced she had received a split lip and a black eye for her troubles. Raven had worried that the apparent fight between the two grounders would only cause the tension that existed between the two of them to rise further, but much to Raven’s surprise it seemed to have the opposite effect. They seemed to develop a mutual respect and after that the two grounders began warming up to each other.

Raven shook herself out of her memories and focussed back in on the project she was currently working on. She was fixing an old alarm clock she’d found on one of their first days on the ring. Again. She’d been ecstatic to find the mostly intact alarm clock, and after finding the rest of the parts to build it with she’d slowly started to fix it. She’d been happy to get the opportunity to work on something just for fun, rather than having to build or fix something to save all their asses. Again. The excitement she’d had over actually completing the alarm clock had lasted less than 24 hours.

The alarm clock had worked perfectly and had gone off in the morning exactly when it was supposed to. However, before Raven had managed to roll over and turn it off there’d been a metallic thunk and the sound had stopped as abruptly as it had started. Raven cracked open one eye to see an extremely familiar dagger sticking out of what used to be a fully functional alarm clock.

She glared at her roommate, who still looked like she was sleeping soundly, not too sure if at this point she should be more awed, annoyed, or afraid. She was also seriously questioning why she had agreed to share a room with Echo in the first place. At least until she remembered that the whole reason she’d ended up sharing with her was because they only had four rooms with working heating and given that the two couples had claimed two of the rooms and neither her nor Echo had any burning desire to share with Bellamy, they’d been stuck rooming together.

The situation with the alarm clock had quickly turned into some sort of weird routine. Raven would fix the alarm clock and Echo would try to silence it with a dagger every morning. Raven felt like she should be annoyed at how often her alarm clock got wrecked, but she was actually enjoying it. Every time Echo succeeded in destroying the alarm clock, Raven would rebuild it again, each time trying to make it a little more dagger proof. It was giving her an opportunity to experiment and stretch her brain on something fun, when there weren’t important jobs to be doing around The Ring.

Raven was working on her latest improvement for the alarm clock when she thought she heard a noise in the vents above her head. Her hand instantly flew to the Azgeda dagger tucked into her belt, listening carefully for any more noise. She’d “borrowed” the dagger from her roommate a little while ago to try and test the improvements she was making to the alarm clock. Her aim was nowhere near as good as the grounder spy’s, but it was good enough to give Raven a rough idea of whether her improvements would work or not. Plus, her aim with the dagger was slowly improving.

Raven felt rather than heard the grounder dropping into the room behind her. She quickly ducked out of the way and at the same time brought the dagger up to gently press against Echo’s neck. The grounder looked down at the dagger held against her throat, then across at Raven. Raven stared right back at Echo, silently daring her to comment on the fact that her own dagger was being pressed against her neck, trying to look slightly braver than she actually felt. She was slightly worried that Echo was going to be annoyed at the whole situation, however instead she was slightly surprised to see the usually stoic grounder actually looked proud.

“Good. You are improving Raven kom Skaikru.” was the only thing that Echo had to say.

Raven fought down a laugh as she realised that the whole purpose of Echo’s sneaking around in vents was, in Echo’s own weird way, her attempt at trying to train them up. Everyone else on the Ring had a job, a purpose, a way to make themselves useful, some way to use their skills for the benefit of the group. Echo was using her skills in the only way she knew how, by attempting to keep their reflexes sharp.

Echo gave Raven a curt nod and then turned to leave the room. Before Raven could think too much about what she was doing, she was speaking.

“Hey Echo. How about you put those Azgeda skills of yours to good use and teach me how to fight properly. We could do with some exercise up here, plus it’ll be useful to know once we’re back on the ground.”

There was a moment of silence and Raven was both slightly worried Echo wouldn’t agree, and slightly terrified that she would. When Echo turned back to face her, Raven was slightly alarmed to see the usually stoic grounder actually smiling a genuine smile. In all the months they’d spent on the Ring together Raven didn’t think she’d ever seen the other woman smile. Raven mentally rolled her eyes, of course the idea of being allowed to punch someone be just the kind of thing that would make Echo happy.

“Tomorrow. We start tomorrow Raven kom Skaikru. Keep the dagger. You’ll need it.” Was the only confirmation Raven received from Echo before the grounder turned and stalked out of the room, probably to go traumatise Murphy some more. It seemed to be a favourite past time of hers at the moment, but Raven had to admit it was funny seeing Murphy all flustered and ruffled.

Raven knew the offer to train was another olive branch, a way to try make the grounder feel a little more a part of their rag tag group of misfits. Given that they were going to be stuck up here together for 5 years Raven figured that it couldn’t hurt to try get to know the woman she was sharing a room with a little better. Plus, maybe if Echo was allowed to fight to get her frustrations out then maybe she’d leave Raven’s alarm clock alone. Maybe.


End file.
